Marking Time

In Annals of the Famine in Ireland Asenath Nicholson describes her travels and work in Ireland during the Famine times. It’s an insightful and mostly objective eyewitness account of what was going on at the time. She was determined to record the truth of the situation as she saw it without the spin of officialdom and she went out of her way to witness the worst of the suffering. She covered most of the country even managing to talk her way into the prison at Spike Island to observe conditions there.

I was struck by many things while reading this book. The subservience and resignation of those who were dying of starvation was shocking. Rather than complaining, protesting, or rebelling most just slunk away to their mud cabins to die in a dark corner, out of sight. They wouldn’t even steal a piece of bread to keep themselves alive.

The other thing that struck me was the complicity of many of the native Irish in creating and maintaining the conditions that led to and prolonged the disaster. Irish people today think of the famine as a national tragedy which was inflicted on all the Irish people and largely the fault of British malfeasance and indifference. We believe that we all have a share in the legacy of the pain and suffering. But this is not entirely true. While it is true that the British were largely responsible for the situation and can in no way be absolved of their atrocious handling of the affair it must also be acknowledged that a significant number of Irish people played their part in it and took advantage of the situation for their own gain. It was in the main the lower classes that were affected by the famine. In effect the whole bottom tier of Irish society was wiped out. They left no legacy and no descendants to bear witness. Those of us who are of more fortunate lineage should remember that when we invoke the grievance of the famine as a shared national tragedy.

The book is available on-line here.